Ars Technica posts about the latest news in Net Neutrality (Waxman’s net neutrality compromise: solution or last gasp?). What’s interesting here is that they’re (finally?) calling it what proponents have been essentially asking for — classifying ISPs as “common carriers.”
We asked the FCC whether the agency’s latest net neutrality proposal, which would subject ISPs to some common carrier provisions, is still in the game.”All options remain on the table,” came the official reply. The problem is that “the table” is starting to shrink when it comes to open Internet enforcement—something along the lines of a small TV dinner tray, if that. And whatever entrees still sit upon on its surface at this point won’t be taken up at the FCC’s next Open Commission meeting, scheduled for Thursday October 14.
What the heck is a common carrier? Wikipedia isn’t much help in describing it, but this site does much better (especially the parts about “discrimination” and “interconnection”).
I think when put in this way, it’s easier to understand why Net Neutrality isn’t an attempt to “regulate the Internet.”